What gets me up on my feet, what keeps me going is knowing that what I write touches others deeply, lending support to hurting souls because we all have something we are dealing with from the richest to the poorest to those in between.

Our emotions are our common bond that joins us to each other.

Without that bond we feel alone like ships without a rudder upon the sea of life.

It’s not what happens to us but how we use it to our own advantage. Using it as our calling card and a tool to minister to others is what makes the difference.

After a month of forums and presentations, activity and philanthropy, DART will conclude Domestic Violence Awareness Month with our 13th Annual Candlelight Vigil, to be at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Lincoln Parish Library Community Room. Former Louisiana Senator Randy Ewing, one of the team leaders for this year’s Men Standing Strong campaign, will be the speaker for this event.

What in the world is Lent, anyway? It begins Wednesday, believe it or not. For most Christian denominations, or traditions, it is the season of preparation before the great feast of Easter. In the Catholic Church, the year is divided into several “seasons,” where different things are celebrated. Ordinary Time is the long season between Christmas and Lent, and then Easter and Advent. Advent is the month or so before Christmas, when the Church prepares to receive the King of Glory into the world. But the season we are coming into this Wednesday has a feeling, or emotion, unique to itself. The sanctuary is vested, as is the priest, in somber tones of purple. Purple is the color or passion, of royalty, of sacrifice and of sorrow.